The German choral conductor, Karl Dietrich Knothe, was Kruzianer and Thomaner, and studied choir directing at the Musikhochschulen Leipzig and Berlin-Charlottenburg. In 1955 the young Korrepetitor already directed at the Theater Magdeburg the high esteemed choir of Leipziger Rundfunkchöre.

For a long time before HIP came into mode, Dietrich Knothe practised with the Capella Lipsiensis created by him in 1955. It ranks among his completely unique achievements that he was able to transfer Rundfunkchöre and the Berliner Singakademie not only to an exquisite chamber ensemble, to a certain extent on a par with the Kreuzchor and the Thomanerchor, but also instilled with slim, transparent tone.

After valuable period of nine years in Leipzig, Dietrich Knothe activity with a summary dismissal was terminated for political reasons. Dietrich Knothe was appointed as the sub-director of the Berliner Singakademie in 1966, and finally after Helmut Kochís death in 1975, he took over the management of the choir with already considerable choir conductor experiences. He maintained the upright course, which he loved already at that time, also in the as beautiful as difficult Berlin years, in which he gave the unmistakable profile to the Berliner Singakademie and the Rundfunkchor Berlin. He held the office until 1989.

In his artistic work Dietrich Knothe left beside the choir literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, always also area for unknown or forgotten works of important composers. Felix Mendelssohnís Magnificat, Schubertís Lazarus or E.T.A. Hoffmannís Miserere, rank likewise among the program, as the works of Hanns Eisler, to which special attention was dedicated.